Sunday, December 8, 2013

Heard of Augean Stable……. Augean
stable" most often appears in the phrase "clean the Augean
stable," which usually means "clear away corruption" or
"perform a large and unpleasant task that has long called for
attention." Augeas, the mythical king of Elis, kept great stables that held 3,000 oxen
and had not been cleaned for thirty years -- until Hercules was assigned the
job. Hercules accomplished this task by causing two rivers to run through the
stables. [thanks Meriam Webster]

Dr Annie Besant in a forlorn state....

I had recently posted on actor Sivaji
Ganesan statue at Gandhi beach near QMC – the removal of which was snowballing
into discussions……….. there are so many of them dotting the Marina beach –
of Poets : Kambar, Ilango, Avvaiyar,
Thiruvallur, Bharathiyar, Barathidasan stand amidst Kannagi, Gandhiji,
Kamarajar, Nethaji Subash Chandrabose, Annie Besant, Swami Vivekananda, Swami
Sivananda, Robert Caldwell, GU Pope, Tamil thatha Saminatha Iyer as also the one of ‘triumph of Labour’.
~ then there are more colonial vestiges
around the city of Chennai aka Madras.

Those travelling in the arterial Mount Road would
never have missed out the baron on horse standing for more than 150 years ….
The Monroe
statue – that of Maj Genl Sir Thomas Munro, 1st Baronet, a Scottish soldier and
colonial administrator who was an army officer of the East India Company. Have heard many stories that the sculptor Sir
Francis Chantrey, upon realising that he had created an equestrian statue sans
saddle or stirrups, committed suicide [noted Historian V. Sriram has clarified
that it is a myth- for Chantrey died of a heart disease].

In Jan 2013, the Apex
Court categorically prohibited all States and
Union territories from allowing statues or other structures to be built on
roads, pavements or any other public place. “You cannot allow statues at public
places. It is not a private property. Each and every citizen has a right to the
place, which cannot be taken away by the government,” the court said, asking
state chief secretaries and Union territory administrators to ensure
compliance. The bench of Justices R.M. Lodha and S.J. Mukhopadhyaya expressed
concern at the way political leaders’ statues were being installed, violating
citizens’ right to free access and movement.

The Bench passed this order even as it directed status quo
on unveiling of a statue of Sundaram Nadar at Neyyatinkara on the
Thiruvananthapuram-Kanyakumari highway, on an application seeking permission
for unveiling it. The Bench said: “Henceforth, the State [Kerala] government
would not grant any permission for statue or construction of any structure at
public places, [on] roads or [at] any place of public utility… This order shall
also apply to all other States and UnionTerritories.” However, it
would not apply to installation of traffic utility structures like
streetlights.

The Bench scathingly observed that funds
should better be utlised for uplifting the poor than glorifying leaders by
statues and added that each and every citizen has a right to the public place
that cannot be taken away by any person. Such practice must be discontinued.”

The first observation that one makes on most
statues that they are poorly maintained – are unclean with so much bird
droppings ~ crows here - and are cleaned
only when some political leaders are to visit that place ! One can perhaps take solace that UK is not
different by reading this post which appeared in Daily Mail.
It is about artist Nic Fiddian-Green who
crafted 35ft horse's head sculpture having to scale new heights to clean
prominent London
landmark himself.

An artist who crafted a sculpture of a horse's
head in central London was so distressed at the local pigeons making a mess of
his landmark he has climbed the 35ft high structure to clean it himself. Nic
Fiddian-Green is known the world over for his incredible signature sculptures
of horses inspired by his own chestnut hunter George. His bronze horse creation
Still Water is now a permanent feature in Marble Arch but it appears the
pigeons loved it as much as London
sightseers - leaving the prominent statue in need of a spring clean.

The artist was lifted up in a crane as he decided to clean his bronze horse sculpture; he was suspended over the bronze horse in a cherry picker before proceeding to wash it down with a sponge.